High speed thermal imaging cameras - When 60fps is just not enough !

[Max Planck]

Fraser,
I am sorry about your loss. Please accept my sympathies from a long time cat fancier.

Max

[olivir]

Im so sorry you lost Ollie, my condolences to you and your family

[eKretz]

Very sorry to hear that Fraser. I lost my last dog, 'Gator, about 6 years ago. I was pretty upset too, and it took some time to get over.  He was a very good dog. We recently welcomed a new pup into our home, I hope that he is half the dog that 'Gator was. Take your time and remember the good times...

[Hyper_Spectral]

I'm really not the best at providing comfort, but I just want to remind you that it's okay to be depressed and sad for a little while after such a tragic loss. Try to focus on all the positive things a cat was able to do for you, though. You provided him a wonderful life and in turn he helped you in ways you never would have expected. Stay strong, you have a lot of awesome people supporting you.

We can't really move forward with our discussions of thermal optics without you..

[Ben321]

I am surprised no one has asked how it is possible to get such high frame rates from a thermal camera. You most certainly cannot achieve the stated frame rates with a microbolometer.

The answer is that these high frame rate cameras use cooled narrow band-gap semiconductor sensor arrays. The camera I will be using has an InSb sensor array with 30um pixel size in a 320 x 256 pixel format. The NETD is stated as <18mK but I have seen it also proven to be 13mk  It is not uncommon for high performance thermal cameras to exceed their stated specifications in some areas as the OEM only states the specification that they are certain can be achieved. Some cameras will perform better, but all will at least meet the specification.

Fraser

How cold does it need to be to work?What does it use to cool it? TEC? Liquid N2? Mechanical Stirling cooler?

[Ultrapurple]

How cold does it need to be to work?What does it use to cool it? TEC? Liquid N2? Mechanical Stirling cooler?

Fraser went into some detail earlier in this thread about this camera's linear Stirling cooler that uses helium as its heat transfer medium.

[Ben321]

How cold does it need to be to work?What does it use to cool it? TEC? Liquid N2? Mechanical Stirling cooler?

Fraser went into some detail earlier in this thread about this camera's linear Stirling cooler that uses helium as its heat transfer medium.

How do they keep helium from leaking? Helium is one of the smallest atoms (only hydrogen is smaller), and will actually pass through the gaps between atoms in a block of what appears to be solid material. That's actually how balloons deflate. They don't deflate because the filling port wasn't tied tight enough. They deflate because the helium escapes through the solid rubber material of the balloon itself!

[CatalinaWOW]

All metal sealing systems.  Most joints welded.  Diffusion rate of helium through selected metals is not zero, but quite low.